This Is Home
by JLME Renner
Summary: Kate Rogers never had a home. She had a place to rest and lay low, until the storm she had created blew over. Until she moved in with the Avengers, and all that changed, and she finds herself doing what she promised herself she would never do - make friends, form connections, and become compromised. All the while figuring out that this is home.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these fantabulous characters or their franchise, sadly. I simply allow my subconscious to run free. Enjoy!**

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This Is Home- Chapter One

"Director, with all due respect, you have to be joking. You want me to live with the Avengers. The Avengers. Until New York is fixed."

"Rogers, do I look like someone who jokes very often?" Fury said, his face as straight as ever.

"Umm, no sir," came the reluctant reply from the young lady in front of him.

"Great. I have notified Stark of your arrival and he is aware that you will be staying with him until your living quarters can be restored," Fury continued. "Your temporary home here on base will need to be utilized by agents who have no where to go so I expect you to be packed, wheels up at 1500."

"Tonight?" she unbelievingly repeated.

"Yes Agent Rogers, no need to repeat me. If that is all then you are dismissed. I suggest you start packing."

As she turned to leave, the Director called to her, "And Kate?" he said.

"Yes Director?" she answered, startled at the use of her first name.

"Good luck."

* * *

_Calm down_, Kate told herself as she rang the doorbell to the eccentric tower she would be living in for the next few weeks. _Pretend like it's a mission. Act. Don't reveal anything personal. Don't make connections. Don't become compromised._

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not see him open the door until he had the barrel of the gun against her forehead."Who are you and what do you waa…" he trailed off in the middle of the sentence, shocked at who stood before him. He did not know this young girl, but yet he felt as if he had known her his entire life. They stood there, staring at each other, neither one recognizing or knowing who exactly the other was, but feeling that strange connection that two people who shared something amazing can feel. They stood there. For seconds, maybe minutes, maybe even hours. They stood there until the recognition dawned on her face.

"Steve."

* * *

"Wh-who are you?" his voice shook; as if he was afraid of the young girl standing in front of him; the girl who was at least six inches shorter than him. But he knew never to underestimate anyone; he had learned that lesson when he met Natasha Romanoff.

"Oh! I'm sorry. My name is Kate. Agent of SHIELD. I was sent by Nick Fury to stay with Stark until my apartment in the city can be repaired," Kate said, extending her hand as if the gun he still had pointed to her head didn't even faze her.

Steve hesitantly shook her hand,"Nice to meet you Kate." He seemed to relax a little after she showed her badge, but never enough to lower his gun. "Come on in. I'll try to find Stark, he didn't mention anything about SHIELD sending someone."

"Stark? You mean like Howard Stark?" Kate instantly perked up as soon as Steve said the genius's gave her a look of wide-eyed confusion. "Nooo. . . His son, Tony Stark. Howard is dead."

Kate's face instantly fell."Oh," was her only reply.

"Hey Pepper, do you know where Tony is?" Steve asked as he entered the kitchen.

"No, I haven't seen him," said Pepper from her place at the island.

"Oh, okay. Well, he has a visitor."

"I have a visitor? Oooh, yay! Who is it?" the billionaire said as he walked in from the opposite direction.

"Stark, this is Kate, from SHIELD," Steve said, making the introductions.

"Oh, more SHIELD people. Yay." Stark deadpanned, his mood instantly changing.

"So this is Howard's son," Kate mused, turning to look at Steve. Steve's hesitant nod confirmed it. "Well, he'll have to do." she said as she made her way to Tony. And promptly slapped him across the face.

"Ow! What was that for?" he whined.

"That was for New York," Kate snapped as she raised her hand again. "And this," another slap, "is for you jackass father."

"Wait, I can understand the New York part," Tony said. "And I know my father was a jackass, but how do _you_ know my father was a jackass? And who are you?"

"My name is Kate Rogers, of SHIELD, like Steve said," was Kate's inpatient reply. "My apartment was destroyed in the Battle of Manhattan and all space at SHIELD needed to be used for other homeless agents, so Fury sent me to stay with you until my apartment can be repaired. Director said he notified you of my arrival."

"Umm, he probably did, but all my emails from Fury kinda go directly to my spam folder, soooo. . ." Tony trailed off.

"Tony, I told you not to do that anymore!" Pepper finally spoke up, getting up from her seat and coming over to Kate. "Nice to meet you dear," she said, shaking Kate's hand. "I'm Pepper Potts, C-"

"-EO of Stark Industries," Kate finished for her. "Yes, I know. You've been on the news quite a lot recently."

Pepper gave a hesitant laugh. "Well, I'm sorry we were not more prepared for you arrival. Until a maid can fix a floor, you can stay in one of the guest rooms. Follow me and I'll show you where you will be sleeping."

The two women left, leaving Steve and Tony staring blatantly after them.

* * *

"So this is it," Pepper announced as she opened the door to the guest suite. "I hope it meets your expectations."

"Oh this is more than enough," Kate genuinely replied. "Thank you."

"Anytime. Well, I leave you to get settled in. Dinner will be served at five if you would like to join us."

"I'll be there. And Pepper?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you again."

* * *

"So Kate, what do you do at SHIELD?" Bruce asked as they dug into their Chinese take out.

"Umm, I really do a bit of everything. I've only been with SHIELD for about six months and I'm a field agent. But during the time SHIELD had possession of the tesseract, I worked closely with Dr. Selvig trying to harness it's power ." Kate said, before taking another bite of the low mein in front of her.

"Oooh. Multi-talented." Stark smirked, waggling his eyebrows. Kate just rolled her eyes and promptly flipped him off. Tony's grin only widened.

"Wait, six months?" Natasha finally spoke up from her place in the corner. "And you're working with the tesseract?"

"Umm. . . Yeah?" Kate hesitantly responded.

"What clearance level are you?" Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"I am clearance level six," Kate said, regaining her confidence. At that point Natasha almost choked on her own spit.

"Level Six?"

Everyone at the table was now looking at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah." Kate said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal. "Since they needed me to help Selvig with the tesseract, and you need extremely high clearance to work with the tesseract, Coulson gave me the clearance I needed."

"Why did they need you to work with the tesseract?" Natasha continued her interrogation.

"Because I knew the most about it." Kate bluntly answered.

"How? What are you, Asgardian?" Clint joined the conversation.

"Nooo," Kate slowly responded.

"Then how do you know so much about the tesseract?" It was Kate versus Clint now. "I know you're not lying because I remember seeing someone who looked like you at the Seattle base where we were keeping the tesseract. But why on earth did they need you working up close with the cube?"

Kate knew there was no escaping the truth now. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I was forced to work for Hydra in World War II." she said, at the same time JARVIS spoke.

"Sir, the preliminary hack into Miss Rogers profile has been completed. Would you like to view it now?"

"Yes JARVIS, pull it up." Tony requested as the images and files appeared around the room. Stark rose to examine the new information on the mysterious girl now living with them.

Bruce finally spoke again. "Kate, do you have any family living in New York?"

_Oh shit. He knows._ Kate internally panicked to herself. _I have to tell them. _

_What? You can't!_ Screamed a tiny piece of her mind. _What happened to not making connections? To not becoming compromised?_

Yet a larger part of her mind silenced it, saying simply, _They deserve to know._ She took a deep breath, mustered up all her courage and turned to face Steve.

"Steve," she said calmly and evenly, the exact opposite of what she felt right now. "I am you sister."'

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**Let me know what you think. Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

This Is Home- Chapter 2

The room went silent.

Steve was the first to break the silence, "You're joking right?"

"No, she's not." came Tony's reply from across the room, as he scrolled through her files. Everyone turned back to look at Kate and they saw the self-reprimanding look she was wearing for exposing such a personal piece of information. She could hardly believe it herself. For years she had been told all her family was dead. And then to find out she had a brother? A brother who happened to be a super hero, no less.

Again Tony had the attention of the room as he began to list random things from her file.

"Catherine Rose Rogers, born January 5th 1938. . . Sold to HYDRA during WWII, escaped at age 6, when they fell. . . Sought out Howard Stark. . . Replica of the Super Soldier Serum. . . Hyper sleep for 55 years. . ." he trailed off and turned to Kate. "You know, this makes so much sense now!" But Kate wasn't paying attention. She had pulled out her laptop was furiously typing away. After a few seconds, she smiled triumphantly.

"Anthony Edward Stark. Former CEO of Stark Industries. . .on the way to a weapons trial, was captured by Wong-Chu. . ." Kate listed off every detail of his SHIELD profile as Tony gawked at her in disbelief.

"It took me three hours to hack into the _preliminary_ information of your SHEILD profile." His ego had obviously been hurt. "How the hell did you manage to get past every one of SHEILD's firewalls in a matter of seconds?"

Kate just smirked. "Magic."

"W-wait." Pepper said, taking control of the conversation. "No offense, Miss Rogers, but I do believe you owe us an explanation. Poor Steve is staring at you like you just grew a few more heads."

"Damn it. No connections." Kate muttered under her breath. Then turning to the rest of the group, " I know it's weird, but it's easier for me this way. And if anyone of you even thinks of interrupting me, I keep at least six knives on me at all times." Kate then turned a gave a pointed look to Stark, who raised his hands in surrender.

Natasha turned to her partner and muttered, "I am liking this girl more and more."

Kate took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she began.

"I was born Catherine Rose Rogers on January 5, 1938."

There was nothing wrong with what Kate was saying, it was how she was saying it. Her eyes were focused on a blank wall and she sounded as if she was reciting from a textbook, not telling her life story. Her voice held no emotion, it was cold, gray and dull. Yet everyone in the room was absolutely captivated.

"Because my mother had to care for my brother Steve, she gave me to my uncle for caring. As soon as I was able to walk, I was sold to a special division of HYDRA where I was put into a program known as the Raven Spy Initiative, where I learned every survival skill necessary. When I became of an old enough age, I was sent to the enemy lines to transfer information. As soon as HYDRA fell, I ran."

She paused for a moment, but no one made any comments, so Kate continued.

"I was living on the streets. A man who I later found out was Howard Stark took me in and once he saw that I was related to Steve, he began trying to recreate his super soldier serum; hoping that with our similar DNA, he would have success. Long story short, something went wrong and I wound up with the same muscle and endurance as Steve, but was shocked into a 55 year cryo-sleep." At this point the television buzzed to life and Fury's face filled the screen.

Stark promptly closed the files as Fury began to elaborate on the details of a new mission. When the screen went black and the agents all turned around to go their separate ways and suit up, they found the room empty. Devoid of any evidence that, moments ago, on the seat at the end of the table there was a tall, fit blonde with green eyes.

Kate sat in the ventilation ducts above the main sitting area on the shared floor of the Avenger's tower.

As she watched the team leave for their new assignment, she was mentally murdering herself. _What the hell am I doing!? _Part of her mind screamed._ Becoming compromised that's what!, _responded the other. Kate was too busy scolding her feelings that she didn't even notice the one tiny piece of her that said, _They didn't even notice I was gone_.

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**Hey guys! Sorry it was so short. I will probably have more up by the end of the week. **

**Remember, I can't make the story better unless I know what you think. Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

This Is Home- Chapter 3

As the team dragged their feet out of the elevator, covered in what they assumed was the blood of whatever the hell they just fought. The Black Widow watched as Tony went strait to the lab to tinker with his suits, Banner shuffled to his private lab, Steve mumbled something about going for a run, and Barton, she suspected, rushed off to his floor to clean his bows.

Natasha was left alone. As she made her way to the elevator, she felt the familiar urged to punch something developed deep in her stomach. _It must be the adrenaline, _she told herself. When the elevator arrived, instead of retreating to her quarters for a scalding bath and some time to think about their new house guest, Natasha pressed the icon reading _upper_ _level _and addressed the AI, "JARVIS take me to the penthouse gym." _It's just to burn off some adrenaline, a quick rum should do it. Then I'll go meet with the team for debriefing, _Natasha reassured herself, not willing to admit her true motive. She needed to find Kate.

* * *

As Natasha entered the gym, she made sure to enter quietly. Calling upon all her training, she crept around the outskirts of the room, and up onto the lockers in the back. From here, she watched as Kate brutally murdered a fancy electronic dummy with razor sharp focus and hypnotizing skill. Natasha sat in perfect silence as Kate took out at least another twenty dummies with a wide assortment of knives. She would never admit this to a soul, living or dead, but she was impressed by Kate's skill. At eighteen years old, not many girls could take out practically an army of men by themselves and have them all bleeding to death on the ground in a matter of seconds. But something about Kate bothered Natasha. There was something so familiar about her; something she had seen hundreds of thousands of times in her life, but she couldn't exactly place her finger on what it was. And Natasha knew that was a problem. In her line of work, unlabeled familiarities got you killed.

Brought out of her thoughts by a sudden movement across the gym, Natasha focused her bright green eyes back on the new girl, who had dropped her knives in favor of a Gatorade water bottle. "Hello Natasha," the young girl quietly greeted, without turning to face the older spy.

"I didn't know you knew I was here," the shock Natasha was trying to hide was evident in her voice.

"Any normal person would never have seen you coming; but let's face it, I'm not normal," Kate said in a matter of fact tone.

Natasha gave a quiet laugh, "Neither am I, kid. Neither am I."

After a short silence Kate spoke up. "So why are you down here? We both know you look like shit, and you probably feel like it too."

"Wanted to burn off a little post-mission adrenaline." Natasha replied. "You want a sparring partner?"

Kate grinned wickedly, "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

"Damn, Rogers. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Natasha asked as she took a giant gulp of water.

"A lot of YouTube videos, Romanoff," Kate joked with her infamous smirk plastered across her face.

Natasha turned to stare at her in disbelief. "You kidding right?" Natasha asked.

"Unfortunately, I am not. The Internet is a magnificent place to learn how to kill somebody 29 different ways with a paper clip and become a world renowned assassin for it."

Natasha stood there, mouth hanging open. "Shit. This girl outdoes me again."

"Doing what, Romanoff?" came Kate's innocent reply.

Natasha took a deep breath, and with shame written across her face said, "I only know how to kill someone 26 ways with a paper clip." Kate's laugh was so melodic and genuine that it snapped Natasha out of her trance. Half way through their sparring session, Natasha had realized why she had needed to find Kate. "So seriously, where did you learn to fight." Kate's expression instantly grew dark and cold. "I noticed you specifically didn't mention exactly who trained you when you told us about you past-"

"Don't ever speak of my past!" Kate abruptly cut her off. In an instant, her look turned from dark and cold, to horrified. Horrified at herself for yelling at Natasha. Horrified at herself for ruining her only chance at a friendship. Horrified. "Oh my gosh. I'm-I'm- I'm so sorry." Kate quickly said before turning around and running- not in the direction of the tower elevator, but of the door they had opened earlier during their sparring in hopes of cooling down the humid training room. Kate ran in the direction of the outside world.

* * *

Kate ran. She ran until there was nothing left to run for. As she slowed her pace to a walk, desperate to catch a piece of the late spring breeze, she turned around trying to get her bearings. Unintentionally, Kate had run to a large park, filled with young kids and their parents. She looked up at the nearest street sign. _Crap, _she scolded herself._ how the hell did I manage to get all the way to 118th? I need to go back. _But Kate knew in her heart she couldn't go back. Ever. After yelling at Natasha, she could never face the Avengers, she couldn't face Natasha again.

She would go to Director Fury right now and tell him she was out. She wasn't going to live with people who would look and point to her and say, "There goes the freak. What's her problem anyways?" She couldn't do that; not again.

But Kate was so tired. _I'm just going to stop for a mintue and catch my breath, _she told herself. That was when she spotted the street vendor. She ran toward him, grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil, and got in line before remembering she did not have the money to pay for these matterials. "I'm sorry," she apologized to the vendor. "I forgot that-"

"I've got her covered," a masculine voice said from behind her, pushing a twenty dollar bill on to the counter.

"Thank you. Have a nice day," the street vendor replied, before going to assist his next customer. Kate turned to look at the man who had paid for her sketchbook. She was both surprised and not when she turned to find Steve looking down on her.

"Fancy seeing you here," he said a grin spreading out across his face. Kate just rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you liked sketching."

Kate was suddenly very aware of the fact that he now knew two compromising pieces of information about her. So instead of going on about her passion of drawing, she shrugged and blew it off like it was no big deal, only saying,"Yeah. It's okay."

"I'd say it's more than that with the way your face lit up at the sight of the street vendor, but okay."

"So what are you doing here?" Kate asked as she mad her way to a bench, desperate to change the subject off of her.

"Just running," was Steve's nonchalant answer. "Which you look like you'be been doing a lot of." he observed, eyeing her sweaty apparel. Kate was immediately self conscious, she hated when people turned their attention to her.

"Impromtu runs are my favorite way to get away from people," she remarked drily before directing her attention to the huge oak tree in front of them. It would have been a perfect tree for climbing, except the first branch was almost ten feet in the air; way to high for any little kid to attempt a jump. Kate got into a starting position, her eyes never leaving the tree.

"Wait, you aren't trying to run away from me are you?" Steve asked cautiously.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Captain." Kate replied before running straight at the tree. Right before she ran right through the humongous oak, Kate launched herself into the air, and because the sketchbook and pencil was tucked under her left arm, she pulled herself onto the branch with only her right, landing neatly on her butt. She then rose to a standing position and climbed a few feet higher before settling into a V of two branches and opening the pristine white pages of her new sketchbook. She had forgotten that Steve was there as well. That was until he pulled himself onto the branch next to her.

"Are you going to tell me why you like to sit in trees and sketch instead of on the ground where you can see everything better?" he asked as he pulled out a smaller sketchbook and a pen out of his pocket. Kate just continued to sketch.

Neither said anything for a very long time, because sometimes the way to understand more about a person is not to use words. So the siblings just sat. Steve was content to have learned something about his new baby sis today and Kate was wondering when he was going to give up and leave.

Finally, Steve turned his gaze to the darkening sky. "It's getting dark, we should probably head back to the tower." he said.

"Oh I'm not going back to the tower." Kate stated as she closed up her sketchbook and tucked in under her arm.

"Wait, why not?" Steve asked incredulously.

Kate froze. "Because I screwed up," she said quietly. "And I don't think they'll ever forgive me."

Steve immediately understood. So instead of starting some long lecture about forgiveness, he said the only thing he was sure of; the truth. "You never know unless you try," was his simple answer before he pocketed his drawing and climbed down the tree, leaving a stunned Kate behind him.

As she watched Steve go, there was one question on her mind. _Is he right?_

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**Yay! That's it for Chapter Three! I know that one was kinda long so the next one will be a little bit less. Who's ready to find out what Kate decides?**

**Remember, I can't make the story better unless I know what you think. Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

This Is Home - Chapter 4

Steve was honestly surprised when Kate walked through the door a few minutes after him. He knew that if she was who she said she was, she was exactly like him. And being exactly like Steve Rogers meant that you stuck with your decision no matter what. Unless your decision is wrong. When Kate caught him scrutinizing her, she immediately became uneasy. "I decided to take your words into consideration," she started carefully, "and I realized that you may have been correct. I have decided to stay at the tower for the time being."

"So you are going to apologize for whatever you did?" he asked hopefully. Steve knew that it was hard for Kate coming into a brand new world and letting these people in, but he also knew she could never fully trust them if she never understood the concept of "forgive and forget".

However, before Kate could respond, JARVIS piped up. "Ma'am and sir, dinner is being served."

* * *

Kate had rarely had contact with anyone all week. Her priority at the moment was fixing all these growing emotions inside her. Her trainers, if they found out what she was doing-

_Stop._ Kate told herself. _They do not own you anymore. You are are Kate Rogers, agent of SHIELD. S_he started the mantra she repeated every time she thought back to her old life. _Your brother is Steve Rogers. You live in Avengers Tower. They do not own you. _

As she finished reciting the truths in her life, Kate decided that she needed something to take her mind off of life. Her thoughts immediately went to drawing, but her passion was too closely connected to her past. Second on her list was training. It never hurt to train.

* * *

"How come I always seem to find you here?" the ex-Russian asked as she walked into the penthouse training center Stark had built once he found out that most of the towers residents loves involved heights and training.

Kate froze mid-shot. _Shit. _She thought. _Not now. Anytime but now. Not now._ But Kate knew she had to face Natasha soon enough. She couldn't hide in the same building forever. "Natasha, I-"

"No Kate." Natasha quickly inturrupted. "Do not try to apologize. It's just-" she trailed off. Natasha raised her hand in frustration. And then watched as Kate immediately tensed as she prepared for the hit that would surely follow. As Natasha realized what the young girl was waiting for, she quickly dropped her hand and quickly raised it to her mouth, feeling the bile rise up in her throat when Kate flinched at the older spy's action. All Natasha could think about at the moment was how she was breaking her promise of never turning into her trainers. Natasha felt the remnants of her lunch make their way up her throat and ran to the nearest restroom, leaving behind a shocked little girl.

* * *

Clint was the one who found her, three hours later, pouring her guts and her tears into the toilet in front of her. Her partner said nothing as he knelt next to her and pulled her short red hair away from her face. Clint did nothing but comfortingly rub her back and hold her hair, forcing down the gut-wrenching feeling of watching his partner of six years cry for the first time.

After there was nothing left to cry out or throw up, Natasha took a deep breath and turned to face Clint. "I went to find Kate today. For some reason, she thinks that me pressing about her past was her fault, thats why she's been avoiding me." Natasha confessed to her friend. "When she tried to apologize, I interupted and when I got frustrated, I raised my hand and she thought I was going to hit her!" At this, the broken Russian began to cry again. "She thought I was going to hit her, Clint. I turned into everything I promised I would never be. I turned into my trainers!" Clint did nothing but hug his friend tight; because he knew sometimes, in the worst of times, that was all you needed to do.

* * *

Since Natasha had come to the gym, all Kate could do was reprimand herself for showing such weakness in front of her. Kate kept curing herself for letting that flinch get through. She knew it was just a little flinch, but she also knew a little flinch could get you killed. And being killed was not something Kate thought she would enjoy.

But deep down, Kate knew that her focus on that one little slip-up was really her heart trying to hide its disappointment that Natasha turned out to be like everyone else. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she couldn't believe that someone like Natasha, who had gone as far as killing almost every last one of the Red Room agents just to have her freedom, would turn out to be exactly like them; punishing you when you interrupted them and doing the same when an apology was attempted.

There is no room for remorse. There is no room for apology. That was what her trainers had taught her. Kate thought she had left behind the cold hearts of Russia and the rest of her organization. Obviously, that had been wishful thinking. Kate shouldn't have beenso stupid as to hope tht she would been free of her past. _So stupid,_ she thought shaking her head to rid herself of the dwindling thoughts.

Before her uncle had sold her to pay for his addiction, he had always said "Do no think in the past. Your only hope is the future." Kate thought of this now, and realized how her only hope really was the future. She could only hope the others will accept her and help keep her from Natasha. That was her only hope: stay away from Natasha.

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**Hey everyone! I know that took such a long time to update, but school started for me, so updates will be extremely slow until next June. But please, guys, don't unfollow. I know it might take a while but this story is going to be really great. So please just stay with me. **

**Now more inportant business: MISSION TIME! A few of the Avengers (plus Kate) are going to go on an undercover mission to a fancy ball to bust a drug lord. So leave location suggestions in a review! (It wouldn't hurt if you told me what you thought if the story so far as well ;)**

**Remember, I can't make the story better unless I know what you think! Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

This Is Home- Chapter 5

Seven weeks. That's how long Kate had been there. And not once has she said more than a few words to anyone. Except for Steve, he was different, though not by much. The Captain still couldn't get more than a handful of words from her, but they made a point of racing each other to the park at least once a week. There they sat in the same large oak and drew. Never saying, just drawing. Once Steve was even brave enough to draw her. He thought she didn't notice, but she did. Kate always did.

Kate's seventh week at the tower had gone along without any contact with Natasha, and all she could do was pray that her luck wouldn't run out. However, as always, if something could go wrong for Kate, it would, and it did.

At 4:00 in that night, on Kate's 49th day at the tower, Natasha walked into the gym. Kate was occupied with the uneven bars at the exact moment, but she knew, she could feel when Natasha entered the room. She froze. That was really all she could do. She dismounted, and tried to slink away to the locker room as quickly as possible, all the while praying to whatever entity would listen to her. Of course, Natasha noticed. She knew she was blocking all the exits, and the only way Kate could leave the gym was if she crawled through the window in the locker rooms . . . "Kate, wait!" Natasha knew she sounded far too desperate for her liking, but she really didn't give a fuck. She wanted to fix their misunderstanding.

"Kate, I need to talk to you," Natasha hurried out of the locker room after her.

"There's nothing left to talk about," Kate's voice was cold, even and guarded. But even so, she slowed, knowing she couldn't put this off forever. As she turned to the spy, Kate ran through her list of personalities. Years ago, she had found it easier to be someone else when receiving her punishment from those above her. It made the excruciating pain slightly more bearable.

"I wanted to speak with you, Kate." Natasha began. "I-" That was when JARVIS interrupted.

"Excuse me, but Director Fury would like to see you both upstairs right now," he said in his perfectly automated voice, opening the elevator at the end of the hall.

Forgetting each other, the two made their way down the hall, into the elevator, and up to the conference room without so much as a second glance at the other. The women too focused on pulling their professional masks on, while on the inside wondering just exactly what Fury wanted now.

* * *

"You wanted to see us, Director sir?" Natasha asked as the two walked into the room. Both women quickly noted the silent man crouching in the rafters, bow in hand, and the blond super soldier quietly conversing with Maria Hill in the corner.

"Obviously, Romanoff. If I didn't want to see you, then why the hell would I have called you here?" Fury quickly, and annoyingly, snapped back.

"Well, shit. Someone's PMS-ing," Kate commented under her breath. She usually wasn't one to talk back to authorities, but her run in with Natasha had her freaked. Not that she would admit this to a sole, living or probably dead, it scared the shit out of her. For shit's sake, she'd been out almost two years and the nightmares still hadn't stopped. The endless torture, running into safety only to be caught again. After her own screams wake her, she'll lay on the floor, never daring to close her eyes again, and talk herself back to the world of the conscious. The horrifying dreams, so real that it's hard to remember a time before them or a time after. Because there is no true way to eliminate them, only to cope, to coexist with each other. There is nothing else to do.

That was when a quiet chuckle from above shook her back. The archer had heard her, but Fury had heard him."Barton, get your no good ass down here." Clint landed nimbly on his feet.

"Definitely PMS-ing," he quietly whispered as he passed Kate. As the four tower residents took their seats, the Director began.

"Alexander Quill. Better known as "The Crystal Hand". Currently he runs the biggest crystal meth factory in the world. In fifteen days, he will be making the biggest deal of his illegal career, and tripling the size of his factory. Basically, this son of a bitch is going to turn the world into one big ball of drugs. In two days, Quill will touchdown in Italy to complete the deal. His cover is a sponsor foe the electronic company Olivetti attending their annual banquet." He gestured for Maria pass debriefing folders around.

"The contact will be attending the event," Fury continued.

"So this is a take down mission," Natasha stated as she scanned the file.

"No, this is a immobilize and capture mission. Not only do I want Quill, I want his accomplice as well." And after seeing the indifferent looks exchange: "And I want them alive."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Natasha airily replied. An outsider may have mistaken it for cockiness, but every single agent at that table knew better. It was not cockiness that Natasha Romanoff radiated; it was confidence that surrounded her.

Steve studied the Director's face, "There's more."

"Obviously," a very pissy Fury replied. "Quill's not that big of a dumbass. He'll be bringing his army. Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers, you'll be taking on Quill's army and his accomplice. Agent Rogers, you have Quill. Barton, you're our eye in the sky." Nods of understanding were exchange.

A grin so wide and malicious slowly developed across the Director's face. Spreading his arms out like an eagle in flight, he addressed the agents in front of him. "Ladies and gentleman, let the fun begin."


End file.
